Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

"Naruto-niichan, I thought you were going to be coming alone!"

"Calm down Konohamaru, it's just Yami-chan. Yami-chan, this is Konohamaru. There, now you know each other." Naruto introduced Yami to his student/young rival Konohamaru. The younger boy, only 12 years old, was looking at Naruto with a conflicted face. Since usually their training was suppose to be done in secret, and bringing a girl along would ruin the moment for him. "Anyway, I thought this was about that." Naruto mentioned with a wave of his hand.

They were behind the Hokage Rock, currently in front of a very old shed that was used by previous Hokage, and relatives of the Hokage, to store things that weren't of dire importance. Things like alarm clocks, birthday presents, or other things that didn't really warrant being held in top security or the Hokage office.

"Ah! That! Yeah, this is about that." Konohamaru remembered the reason why he had wanted to see Naruto, besides getting some training from him.

Yami still didn't know what that was, but she was more curious now.

"Greetings, Sarutobi... Hello Konohamaru." Yami shook her head, since based on Naruto's reactions, people didn't really care for being addressed by their full names. She nodded her head to the young boy, knowing that she would be training with him later against Naruto helped her desire to try and get along with him. Even though it was rather clear that he didn't seem to want to get along with her.

She wondered why.

"Listen! I'm Naruto-niichan's number one student and rival, so don't try and muscle in on my spot!"

"... She's not trying to be my student, she and I went on a mission together. She around the same age as me too." Naruto mentioned as he placed his hand on top of Konohamaru's head. He grinned at the younger boy, who had his own cheeks flush in embarassment. When Naruto took his hand away, the boy nodded his head. "Anyway... my treasure." Naruto reminded the boy once more.

He really wanted it back.

Konohamaru gave Yami a look, before he went towards the shed and unlocked it. When it opened up, a visible amount of dust escaped the always dusty shed. Naruto walked by Konohamaru and went towards the safety box that wasn't covered in more than a few days of dust. He got down on his knees and grabbed the box, smiling, before he opened it up.

Yami saw orange.

"I kept your treasure safe!" Konohamaru exclaimed to Naruto, who gave the kid a thumbs up, and smiled widely.

'It's just...' Yami thought to herself, but she opened her up. "... a jacket?" Yami finished her thought out loud. She couldn't help but hide the disappointment in her voice at seeing that Naruto's great treasure was just an old jacket that looked several sizes too small for him. It was in a condition that showed it had seen some serious battles, and been repaired more times than she believed Naruto could count.

"Don't insult it, that's Naruto-niichan's most precious treasure! He wore that when he first became a ninja!"

"It's fine Konohamaru. It's not valuable, and it's not some great treasure like I made it sound like. This jacket has seen me through so much, and I have so many memories in it. To me at least, it's something that I can never replace." Naruto held the jacket tenderly, moving his thumb across the old fabric. The sturdy material still held strong, and it had been through so much that even this condition was a testament to how tough it was.

"I don't quite understand." Yami spoke as she looked around.

To bond with a mere object, to the point that one could look at it so lovingly. Yami had never seen somebody, or had anything herself, that was so cared for. She really did expect something more than just a jacket, but then again, the were surrounded by a lot of junk.

"Yeah, this shed was mostly used by gramps, so it's mostly his stuff here." Konohamaru told Naruto as the man stood up.

Yami glanced at something.

"You're symbol." Yami looked at a small box that had the symbol that Naruto wore on his jacket, a red spiral. Naruto glanced towards where she was looking, and saw that she was telling the truth. The same symbol he had been wearing since he was a child, was indeed on one of the boxes. It had a lot of dust on it, but the dulled red symbol was still noticably there.

Konohamaru looked at it and blinked.

"Ah... she's actually right." He grabbed the box as he spoke, and he opened it up and looked in it.

He tilted his head.

All that was inside of it was a scarf and a note, the scarf being a green scarf with white lines running across it. The note having the same red symbol on it, but underneath it, it also had a name as to who it was addressed to.

Naruto

"... It's for me?" Naruto asked, since he was the only Naruto in the village, it could only be addressed to him. Naruto was given the box by Konohamaru, and he took the letter out of the box. With one hand, he opened it up, and blew the dust away from the words.

I hope this keeps you warm.
Love, Mom.

Naruto reread the letter, one, twice, five times, he couldn't stop rereading the letter as he looked at the words over and over. He looked at the last two words more than anything though, the messy handwriting that looked so much like his own. The way that she tried to cram so much emotion into so few words, and kept her writing short and to the point, reminded him so much of himself.

"What does it say?" Yami asked Naruto as she tried to look at the letter.

Naruto didn't respond.

"Naruto-niichan, who is it from?" Konohamaru decided to ask, and he gave Yami a superior smile, knowing that Naruto would tell him the answer. His grin slipped though, when a minute passed and Naruto didn't look away from the letter. Both of them, Yami and Konohamaru, looked at Naruto's back. They could see his shoulders shaking, and he had gone completely silent. "Nii-chan?" Konohamaru placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, and tried to get his attention.

"Ma."

'... His voice sounds strained.' Yami thought when she heard the struggle to his those words out for Naruto. She walked only two steps, but with those steps, she was able to see his face. "You're... crying." Yami had never seen Naruto look so happy... but cry before. She had never seen anyone cry while looking happy.

Tears were falling down his cheeks, but he had the most dopey smile that she had ever seen on him, his tears dripping to the floor off his chin.

"Don't talk to that boy."

Love, Mom.

"It's that boy."

Love, Mom.

"Naruto?" Yami saw Naruto's shoudlers shake more, and his breathing changed. His breaths came quickly, no longer was he trying to speak. She saw his eyes were unfocused slightly, and his breathing sped up.

Konohamaru pat Naruto's back, and Naruto dropped the box and the letter.

"Man, you're mom makes a great scarf!"

"Can you imagine if they let someone like that become a shinobi?"

Love, Mom.

Cold eyes, Naruto could pictures thousands of cold eyes looking at him, the eyes of those who disapproved of him. All rushing into his mind, years of nobody giving him any kindness crashed down on his shoulders all at once. The existance of this scarf, the existance of his mother's love, had been around all this time, and nobody had ever given it to him when he needed it.

"Get out, you're not wanted here."

Love, Mom.

"Naruto-niichan, are you okay?" Konohamaru asked when Naruto didn't respond to his statement the first time. Not only were Naruto's shoulders shaking, but his hands were too. His breaths were fast and heavy. Konohamaru's expression changed from happy, to worried, when he saw Naruto look at his own shaking hands.

Pain.

'... My... my chest hurts... I can't breath.' Naruto could barely think as everything, his entire life, hit him all at once.

Why?

Love, Mom.

Why had nobody ever given this to him, when this one gift would have brought him such happiness? Just to know that his mother loved him, and made this scarf for him, would have made his childhood so much happier than it was.

"He should have been killed when he was born."

Love, Mom.

"Naruto... Naruto... Naruto." Yami spoke his name as she shook his biscep, trying to snap him out of whatever was wrong with him.

His face wasn't happy anymore.

'I hear... all of the voices...' Naruto thought, all of the nasty things everyone had ever said to him all his life ringing in his ears. The sounds were absolutely deafening, he couldn't even hear Konohamaru or Yami saying his name.

His skin was tingling, and he felt cold.

Love, Mom.

"You don't belong."

Love, Mom.

"You're the demon fox!"

Love, Mom.

Naruto moved his hand to his heart, but he couldn't feel how hard it was beating with his cold, tingling hands. His heartbeat was painful, really painful, and he could kind of feel somebody shaking his body. He couldn't tell if he was standing, or if he was floating, because he was starting to lose the feeling in his legs.

Naruto dropped to his knees, and fell to his face, grasping his chest and trying to catch his breath, as everything around him started to fade away.

"Naruto/Nii-chan!"

Konohamaru and Yami were by his side the second Naruto hit the ground, now the fact that something was wrong with Naruto obvious. His trouble breathing now at it's peak. Naruto tried to get air into his lungs, but it didn't seem like his body wanted to breath. Even when he breathed, it didn't make the pain in his chest go away.

"Naruto is hyperventilating." Yami didn't know what to do. She grabbed Naruto's arm and started to shake him, to get his attention and try and calm him down.

Love, Mom.

Those words... Naruto felt as if he could hear them, as if a pretty voice was saying them. Only, those words were being drowned out by everything else. Naruto started to close his eyes as most of his vision faded to black. Naruto saw two people above him, and he could see them moving their lips... but their words were so far away from him.

It hurt.

Love, Mom.

It hurt so much.

Love, Mom.

Naruto glanced up, and as the last of his vision faded away, he saw white feathers that seemed familiar, but for some reason he couldn't recognize them. Naruto reached up to try and touch them, but he lost the strength to move as the last of his vision faded to black.

Then, nothing.

Chapter End!
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